Improvement in machines for breaking and cleaning flax, hemp



SANFORD & ,MALLORY.

Hemp and Flax Brake.

Patented Sept. 15, 1863 U ITED STATES EEIcE.

PATENT GELSTON SANFORD AND JAS. E. MALLORY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR BREAKING AND CLEANING FLAX, HEMP, dc.

' Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,962, dated September 15, 1863.

F0 aZZ whom, it may concern.-

@Be it known that we, GELs'roN SANFORD, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, temporarily residing in the city of New York, and JAMES E. MALLORY, of the city, county, and

State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Machinery for Breaking and Cleaning Flax, Hemp, and other like Fiber-Yielding Plants; and we do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a plan, Fig. 2 a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a longitudinal vertical section.

The same letters indicate like parts in all the figures.

Our said invention relates to an improvement on a machine heretofore secured to us by sented to the bite of. the first pair of fluted rollers, c c, by which it is taken, operated upon, and passed to the second pair of fluted rollers, d d, and by them presented to the third pair of rollers, e e, and by them acted upon and delivered. The flutes of the second pair of rollers are finer than the flutes of the first pair, and the third pair of rollers are fluted longitudinally and grooved to a less depth in the direction of their circumference, so as to form rows of teeth from near one end to the other. The journals of the lower rollers, 0 (Z c, are mounted in fixed boxes, and their shafts, outside of the frame, carry each a cogged wheel, f, the cogs of which are fitted to engage the thread or worm of a screw, 9, which is hollow and mounted on a shaft, IL, on which it slides and to which it is feathered so as to rotate with it. The shaft h is mounted in boxes attached to the side of the frame, and

' receives rotary motion from the driving-shaft t by two bevel cog-wheels, j and k. The screw 9, thus rotated, imparts a slow and 'continu ous rotary motion to the lower rollers, 0 cl 6, by the wheels f f f, which motion, being communicated to the upper rollers, c d c, by the interlocking of the longitudinal flutes, carries the flax or other fibrous substances gradually through the machine, and although the carrying of the fibrous material through between the rollers will break the woody parts, such action alone, even when carried at a high velocity, is notsufficient to thoroughly break and separate the woody fragments from the fibers. This required effect is obtained by a back and forth rubbing action of the flutes of the rollers on the fibers, which results from imparting to the rollers a reciprocating rotary motion. This motion we impart by giving to the screw 9 a longitudinal reciprocating motion in addition to the rotary motion above described. One end of the screw is grooved, and the groove embraced by a collar, 70', and this collar is connected by a connecting-rod, Z, with a crank, m, on the end of the drivingshaft 2", so-that the revolution of the crank imparts a reciprocating motion to the screw 9, and as the thread of this screw is engaged in the cogs of the wheels f f f on the shafts of the rollers c d c, it follows that the rollers receive therefrom the required reciprocating ro tary motion, which is equal in both directions; but, as the screw by its rotation also imparts a rotary motion to the rollers always in the same direction, it results that the range of motion of the rollers from the feeding-tableis greater than toward the feeding-table, so that while the flutes of the rollers have a back and forth rubbing action on the fibers, they at the same time cause the fibers to travel from the feeding-table to the delivery end. The upper roller, 6, of the third pair of rollers, which are toothed, is shorter than the lower one, 0, and the journals of its shaft are fitted to slide longitudinally in its boxes while it receives the rotary motions above described. This longitudinal reciprocating motion is received from a crank, n, on-the end of a shaft, 0,which receives motion from the driving-shaft 93 by two bevel-wheels, p q, the crank it being connected with the end of the shaft of the roller 6 by a rod, 1, connected with the shaft of the roller by a ball-and-socket. joint or other equivalent universal joint, which will permit the roller to be rotated as it is reciprocated longitudinally by the crank motion.

The number of pairs of rollers may be increased or decreased at pleasure, and the structure of the rollers may be varied.

\Ve do not herein claim imparting to the rollers of machinery for breaking and cleaning flax and other fibrous substances a reciprocating rotary motion of greater range in one direction than in the reverse direction, as we have already secured this by Letters Patent; nor do we claim giving to one of a pair of rollers a longitudinal reciprocating motion in addition to a rotary reciprocating motion, having made this the subject of a claim in another application for Letters Patent.

YVe do not wish to be understood as limiting our claim of invention to the special arrangement herein specified of communicating a rotary and a longitudinal reciprocating motion to the screw which communicates the required motions to the rollers, as these motions may be imparted to the screw by other and equivalent means.

\Vhat we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

Imparting to one or more pairs of rollers for breaking and cleaning flax or other fiberyielding plants a rotary reciprocating motion with the range of motion greater in one direction than in the opposite direction, by combining with the said rollers a screw or worm having a rotary and a longitudinal reciprocating motion, substantially as herein described.

GELSTON SANFORD. JAS. MALLORY.

\Vitnesscs:

W M. H. Bisnor, A. DE LAoY. 

